Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, will travel for Washington for a meeting with US President, Donald Trump on January 7, 2020, the White House announced on Monday. The two leaders will discuss “ways to advance the two nations’ longstanding strategic interests in enhancing stability, prosperity, and cooperation throughout the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean,” the White House said among others in a statement.
White House Press Release
President Donald J. Trump will welcome His Excellency Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, to the White House on January 7, 2020.
This visit will celebrate the strong economic, security, and cultural ties between the United States and Greece, an important North Atlantic Treaty Organization Ally.
President Trump and Prime Minister Mitsotakis will discuss ways to advance the two nations’ longstanding strategic interests in enhancing stability, prosperity, and cooperation throughout the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.
President Trump will also emphasize the importance of telecommunications security, especially related to 5G, countering malign influence in the region, and promoting religious freedom worldwide.
It is the first time, Mitsotakis will visit the white House as a Prime Minister of Greece. Former PM Alexis Tsipras paid the obligatory visit in October 2017.
The US Embassy in Athens retweeted the WH statement.
.@WhiteHouse: "This visit will celebrate the strong economic, security, and cultural ties between the United States and Greece, an important North Atlantic Treaty Organization Ally." https://t.co/jXAvBDUWSo
— U.S. Embassy Athens (@USEmbassyAthens) December 2, 2019
The meeting between Trump and Mitsotakis will take place amid increased tensions between Greece and Turkey, with the latter escalating tension with inflammatory rhetoric while it is trying to illegally delineate its Exclusive Economic Zone in the East Mediterranean Sea in an effort to get access to hydrocarbons in the area.
Prior to the meeting in Washington, the Greek PM will participate to a working lunch hosted by Trump in London on Dec 4 during the sidelines of the NATO Summit. The lunch will be with European leaders of countries that spending significant amounts on their defense and arms procurement. invited are reportedly the leaders of Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.
